Lucy in the Sky with Demons: Short Stories, #3

By Mike DeFrench

A group of bandmates celebrate the recent success of their album and tour by going a trip.
But it's a bad trip.
A very bad trip...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mike DeFrench
• Release date: Sep 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215159545

Mike DeFrench

Mike DeFrench is a horror, fantasy, and science fiction writer from Indianapolis, Indiana. You can follow him on social media @defrenchwriter. Or go to defrenchwriter.com. To read the stories as they come out, and to stay up to date on any news, subscribe at defrenchwriter.substack.com

Book preview

Lucy in the Sky with Demons

There were four of them in the band. Four boys. All between the ages of 16-18. And they were about to be on top of the world.

Young Stokes was the singer, Nate Hale the lead guitarist, Sammy Zimmerman the bassist, and Cliff Meyer the was their drummer.

Tonight, this fine and cloudless summer night, they felt immortal. It was the kind of feeling that only the very young people can have. And not just any young people, but the kind of young people that like to live at least somewhat dangerously, the ones that like to take in the adventures of life, to take risks and not regret, and who have always (up until the present moment at any given time) came out unscathed. Or at least still alive and unspoiled enough to pursue yet more of the reckless fun that life had to offer. It is even worse in such youth that find themselves with some bit of success in achieving their wildest dreams so early on in their lives. They often feel as if they are put on the earth for a purpose. There is some mystical force that protects them because they surely cannot be harmed before their destiny is fulfilled.

But these boys were not immortal. They would be dispelled of that illusion by the end of the night. Because though the boys were surely destined for some great purpose, to become among the greats of artists, of musicians, no man is without folly or error. And no man is immortal, no matter their destiny or potential.

And there were demons that night in Broadshore Park. A place that was normally filled with kids on the playground during the day, older kids playing Pokemon Go later in the day, after school was out, school soccer leagues playing games in the fields around 5:00 PM, families and work outings having lunch or dinner in one of the several covered picnic areas in the park.

The park was closed at sundown every day. Didn’t stop some kids from staying later. But eventually a cop or two would come by, do a sweep, make sure there was no one there. It wasn’t a very large park, so it took two police offers about twenty minutes to do a full sweep of the area.

Normally if there were any teenagers still hanging around, they were run off at the sight of the police officers’ flashlights.

And if that didn’t work, then just a holler of "You guys realize that I know what that smell is, right? I